The First Step Forward
by ajremix
Summary: "Just because one romance fails doesn't mean that another won't have the chance to grow."


That First Step Forward Virgo  
  
  
  
She held up her long tribute to labor before her, created with countless nights of strain and perseverance. With a sigh, she held it close, stroking the soft material against her cheek. Soon. soon he'd understand just how deep her love for him ran.  
  
But the room became hot and her thoughts struggled through a cotton blanket of mist, trying to realize their purpose in her mind.  
  
Not now. not after all her hard work could she fail now. but as she stepped into the main room, her legs gave out on her and she couldn't even remember hitting the floor.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"What's this?" Sasuke asked, confused. His hands were about eye level, a long thin obsidian-wood case, smooth, glazed and impressively crafted held gently between them. His two teammates shifted in various degrees of pride and embarrassment.  
  
"It's Sasuke-kun's birthday present." Sakura said.  
  
"C'mon! Open it!" The blonde boy insisted.  
  
Just to spite him, Sasuke took his time examining the case before slowly, carefully opening it, just to see if Naruto's head would pop first.  
  
Inside was a cushion of maroon-red velvet and in the middle was a long, thin piece of wood, the same cherry black as the case, his name embedded in graceful lines of gold foil: Uchiha Sasuke. Almost uncertainly, he took it out.  
  
"A.fan?" With expert movements he snapped it open. On the ivory paper was his first name written out in water colored dragons and flame, arching over its entire length.  
  
"Naruto noticed the play on your name," Sakura explained, "and I thought it was." Well, 'cute' may not be the word she wanted to use.  
  
"I helped pay for it." Naruto said. "So don't think it was all Sakura- chan. I expect you to buy me all the ramen I can eat for my birthday!"  
  
"You're always asking for money for it, anyway." Sasuke replied as he replaced the fan. The lid closed with a rich 'click'. The soft corner of his lips took the sting out of his reply.  
  
"D-Do you like it?" She asked, her mildness coming off more timid than she had meant.  
  
Sasuke paused, running a hand over the case. "Yes. Thank you." He gave them both the slightest of smiles. They returned it with grins of success and relief.  
  
"Oi, Sasuke."  
  
The trio turned to see a form trudging nonchalantly towards them, hands in his pockets, package under one arm. Shikamaru. Once he reached them, he held out the wrapped bundle. "Here."  
  
Sasuke raised a brow at it. "And this is.?"  
  
"A present? Perhaps?" The other came off shortly. Sasuke frowned at him but took the proffered gift. He and Shikamaru never really saw eye-to-eye, though it may have just been because they were on different sides of the 'hard work = annoyingly troublesome' spectrum.  
  
Naruto looked closely at the package and noticed the little heart-adorned bow that held the paper together. "Shikamaru. do you."  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Like Sasuke in /that/ way?"  
  
In the background, one could hear Sakura's brain explode as the two boys in question looked at Naruto as if what he just suggested could make the sun eat up the planet and spit it into deep space as a giant fireball.  
  
"That's from /Ino/, Uber Stupid! Don't say such dumb things!" Sasuke glared in agreement, the tiniest hint of red shading his pale cheeks.  
  
"I-Ino-pig?" Sakura asked slowly. Though still a distasteful thought, her mind could grasp that idea easier. "Why isn't she here to give it to him herself?"  
  
Shikamaru sighed, insulted frown still on his face. "She's sick. Stuck in bed at home. Asked me to give it, instead."  
  
"You?" Naruto snorted. "That's a surprise. Isn't it too troublesome for you?"  
  
"Yeah, it's a pain in the ass. I may be lazy but I tend to be pretty reliable. I look out for my own." He glared at Naruto. "And others."  
  
"Er. yeah." He looked away.  
  
He turned back to Sasuke. "You better appreciate it, too. She got sick staying up all night for a week to make it. For /you/."  
  
Sakura and Naruto looked at the gift, then Sasuke who, after a moment, unwrapped it. It was a scarf. Rather plain and nothing to compare to a professional craftsman's, but it was made from soft, warm material and done far beyond the range of any amateur.  
  
"It's. nice." Sasuke said. He couldn't think of another way to put it. He'd never gotten anything that someone had actually taken a lot of time and effort for.  
  
Sakura looked up at sudden movement. "Shikamaru? Where're you going?"  
  
"I'll send her your regards." He said as he walked away, not stopping nor turning.  
  
Naruto sniffed. "What's with him?"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He tried to focus on his book, but he kept getting distracted by her fevered moans. On more than one occasion he had to replace the wetnap on her forehead as it slipped off. Eventually he gave up on reading all together and just watched her.  
  
Ino. he thought to himself, you're so stupid. Why do you keep chasing after him? You know he doesn't care about you. Not the way you want him to.  
  
Of course that didn't make /his/ situation any better, now did it? After all, what could she ever see in a guy like Shikamaru? A teammate, someone she could depend on.  
  
Depend on to run errands to the guy that ignores her. He snorted. If she made him anything, he'd hold it dear his entire life. But she didn't notice how he felt. No one did. Well. except for Chouji. The damned fatso was more observant than he let on.  
  
But it was fine by him. He could take being ignored, he could take only being noticed to do trivial things, he could stand being cast aside for the village heartthrob. Better than Kiba, being set aside in favor of Naruto of all people.  
  
And yet. on that note. he was still pinning for someone who would never look at him that way. Because he really was an idiot. Genius, his ass.  
  
He reached over to brush aside her long blonde hair as it clung to the damp surface of Ino's face, pausing to test her temperature. A gentle groan broke up his thoughts, Ino's dark eyes, sunken slightly into her flushed face, slowly peered open.  
  
"Shikamaru." She said with a sort of relief.  
  
"You're fever's gone down a bit." He commented idly.  
  
"Did you give. Sasuke-kun."  
  
"I did. He. appreciated it."  
  
She smiled. "Of course. He'd never actually say he liked it. I'm not that good at knitting, anyway." She managed to finish before she was stopped be throat-scratching coughs.  
  
Shikamaru jerked forward and helped Ino sit up, holding a glass of water to her lips. "Hey, take it easy."  
  
"Thank you." She said after a pause. "Are those from him?"  
  
He followed her gaze to the vase filled with flowers. No, he thought. /I/ got them. /I/ picked them. /I/ bought them with /my/ money. For you. "Yes. He, Naruto and Sakura all bought it together. They couldn't stay, though." He stopped when he found Ino looking at him. Her eyes and smile were mischievous, as if she knew he was lying. He looked away, fingers itching in the spine of his book. He wanted to read for sake of forgetting her eyes on him, but it seemed too rude.  
  
Sitting up slightly, she asked, "Could you ask my parents to make me some hot orange-ginger tea?"  
  
Shikamaru moved to get up. "All right."  
  
"And if you want," she added, "you could get my grandfather's old Go set from the main room. Maybe you could teach me to play?"  
  
"You sure? It may put you to sleep."  
  
"It's okay. I'm having trouble sleeping, anyway. But don't think about going easy on me just because I'm sick."  
  
"If I did that, you'd tell Asuma-sensei and he'd get sick just to beat me." She giggled at that and Shikamaru couldn't help but to grin. "I'll be right back."  
  
"Un."  
  
When he returned, it was with an entire meal set on a tray. A mug of tea and a glass of juice and two bowls of hot soup that they placed on her night table. Instead, they used the tray as the table for the game. He spent a good deal of time explaining the game to her before they began playing. Badly.  
  
Even at the beginning of the game, Ino had trouble remembering the rules, getting flustered at every turn. Shikamaru, however, thought it was all just too ridiculous and had to laugh at her. She huffed at him and then began to play her way: by breaking all the rules and making new ones as she went along. Eventually the game stopped being Go all together and became a game to see who could come up with the most ridiculous rules.  
  
After a while, though, one of Ino's parents knocked on her door, saying she should get some more sleep. Ino laid back in her bed as Shikamaru replaced the game in its box. "Shikamaru."  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Thank you for keeping me company today."  
  
"It's nothing." The way her long hair spread around her and the setting light filtering through her window made her look like an angel.  
  
"Could you come back tomorrow?" He looked at her in mild surprise. She almost sounded shy. "It'd would be boring without someone to talk to."  
  
Slowly, Shikamaru smiled at her. "Sure. It's no problem."  
  
"Thanks." She curled on her side, watching as he walked to the door.  
  
"Night, Ino. Sleep well."  
  
"Good night."  
  
  
  
A/N: Hah! I think I just created the Shikamaru/Ino English fic out there! I don't know /why/, I mean, those two are just so friggin' cool. Okay, so it really wasn't very ShikaIno, but. still! Okay, anyway, anyway. notes!  
  
1) I don't know when Sasuke's birthday is, but I'm thinking it's around the cooler season. Or not. I don't know, but for the sake of this fic, it is.  
  
2) Sasuke's surname, Uchiha, is close to the term 'uchiwa' which means 'fan'. Granted, it's a non-folding fan (much like the crest on the back of his shirt), but fan, nonetheless.  
  
3) After Naruto passed out from his meeting with Gamabunta- the giant frog -in volume 11, he wound up in the Konoha hospital with Shikamaru looking over him. He was originally there to visit Chouji because he ate too much, but decided to visit them both because they're 'not the type to have a girl visit them'.  
  
4) I don't know how observant Chouji really is, but some of the things he notices about Ino and Shikamaru make him seem like he knows them better than even each other. I wouldn't put it passed him be the first to realize if Shikamaru had feelings for Ino given some of the things he's said/thought in the manga.  
  
5) Yeah, I'm also a Kiba/Hinata fan. So what? *really wants to see a good KibaHinaNaru triangle*  
  
6) Okay, so Ino cut her hair in the end of volume 8, but I like her long hair better. So consider this set a year or more after the Naruto series ends and she grew it out.  
  
Right. That should be all as far as notes go, so. hope you enjoyed^^;; *realizes how different it was from her KakaIru stuff.* *mutters* I wonder if anyone will even read this. 


End file.
